Uninhabited Spaces

Dith Pran September 23, 1942 - March 30, 2008 The film "The Killing Fields"(1984) marked the birth of my social conscience. I was all of 13 but so profoundly affected by the horrific events depicted that it led to my involvement with Amnesty International and, later, a youth delegate in the model United Nations in the Ottawa region. This was the first time I had heard of the Khmer Rouge or understood that film could do more than merely entertain. The movie tells the compelling story of Dith Pran, a journalist and interpreter who somehow endured becoming one of Pol Pot's forced labourers and who, through his bravery, wit, and convictions escapes the notorious killing fields where thousands of his countrymen were executed. How unbelievably sad to learn that we lost this true hero earlier today to pancreatic cancer.

30 years ago this month U2 won a talent show in the town of Limerick, earning them some cash and--more importantly--the ability to record their first demo tape, which they went on to do inApril of 1978. Many folks know the rest of the story, or at least the great albums and songs that have come out of it. One of the pleasures for me as a U2 fan has been the way that the band has interpreted their own songs live over these past three decades. "Where The Streets Have No Name" is a great example of a song that has been transformed over the years, and an astute fan can tell you what band era any particular live version of that song came from. Another great pleasure is hearing interpretations of U2 songs by other artists. While some don't always work others own songs outright and take them to another place. Enjoy some great U2 covers here .

A longtime U2 fan and collector, I have finally stumbled across the finest remix of a U2 song in 20 years. Please grab your headphones, plug them in, turn up the volume and click here !

Our language is in a sorry state. With the advent of IM, email, text-messaging, and the shift in educational philosophy we are losing our ability to use our language correctly. As a public service, and hopeful corrective, I recommend all to read the following site's guide to the use of proper English .

A new film about Jesus Christ has emerged from Iran, and is getting a great deal of attention, including an award from The Vatican for promoting interfaith understanding about a figure important to both Christian and Islamic beliefs. In a striking difference from the Bible, however, the film "The Messiah" extrapolates on elements of the Qu'ran, suggesting that it was not Christ but rather Judas that was crucified after he was transformed by the angel Gabriel into Jesus' likeness. The film also offers two endings, one from a Christian and the other from an Islamic perspective. I have not seen this film but I applaud any attempt to broker common ground. I suspect that the vast majority of Christian folk have no idea that Jesus actually plays a large role in the Qu'ran, and is revered as a major prophet by Muslims. Indeed, any effort to remind us that we are more alike than different is worth supporting.

I am pleased to share that I have recently received and accepted an offer of admission into the Queen's Master of Education program. I will be a part-time graduate student so I can continue to work, and my program will begin in July. I am interested in examining the effects of the privatization of Canadian universities, with a specific focus on business schools. My aim is to research the following question: To what extent has the privatization of business programs affected the quality of management education at Canadian business schools? My research interest arises out of my professional experience as an administrator at Queen’s University since 2000. Having been a manager of Canada’s first “private” MBA program I have had first-hand experience leading and driving privatization. Currently, I am a fund-raiser for Queen’s School of Business, furthering the linkage between private interests and higher education. I have also served on the Queen’s Senate Internal Academic Review Commi...

Alas, the wondrous experience of my trip to Chicago came to an abrupt end as soon as I arrived at O'Hare to check into my flight. Despite the fact that I was 2 1/2 hours before my scheduled departure of 6:00 pm, the check-in counter process took a solid 35 minutes, as the staff spent inordinate amounts of time with four passengers who seemed to need help booking a world tour. I began to get rather grumbly and tried to calm myself down, as one of the three check-in agents essentially ignored us and kept scribbling notes, walking around, picking up the phone, scribbling more notes and then after about 20 minutes of this waved the woman in front of me over rather begrudgingly. This was an omen of things to come. In any event I got my two boarding passes (to Toronto and then on to Kingston) and proceeded to the fun adventure that is U.S. airport security. I killed some time at a cafe, bought and browsed some magazines, and then it came time to head to the gate for the 17:25 boarding ti...

Chicago has put a spell on me! On Thursday night we went to Pizano's , one of the original deep dish pizza locales. It was packed, and the pizza was a unique creation. We loved it. We then walked over to one of the finest blues clubs in the land, called Blue Chicago . Since we had arrived just after opening the place was pretty much to ourselves and we got the first booth next to the stage. The atmosphere was genuine and the artwork (see attached example) was awesome. After a couple of drinks the 4-piece band, BTS Express, warmed up with some stunning grooves. They were remarkably tight, and they just lit the place up. After a couple of songs they were joined by vocalist Big Time Sarah, one of the club's featured "Mojo Mamas". She was simply awesome! When she took a break I bought a CD from her, and she was kind enough to sign my liner notes with a dedication. Saturday night, however, was even more memorable. We started the evening off by going to see U2 3D , the firs...

Chicago is certainly living up to its sobriquet of the "Windy City". In fairness, though, my stunning inn is just a block and a bit from Lake Michigan so the winds are coming off a huge mass of very cold water. The picture attached shows the north end of the downtown. The tall black building is the John Hancock Centre. I am staying just three blocks north of it. After a harrowing cab ride from the airport I settled into to my suite around 1:30, which gave me plenty of time to stroll down "The Magnificent Mile", which is Chicago's version of New York's 5th Avenue or Toronto's Bloor St, albeit with much better architecture. I think I walked for about an hour, with a stop in Millenium Park before heading to my ultimate destination, the famed Art Institute of Chicago . This musem has easily the best Impressionist and Post-Impressionist collection anywhere in North America, and I was suitably impressed and blown away. They seemed to have an endless collecti...